The next day, Zhong Ming came to the headquarters of Moya Technology with the demo of "Zodiac Guardian".

The headquarters building of Moya Technology, as a landmark building, is indeed very eye-catching.

It's not just an office building, it's also a complete infrastructure, with offices, canteens, gyms, everything, and even primary and secondary schools. In addition, the overall environment is also very beautiful, with a large number of wetlands and green space resources, which can be said to be office, leisure, residence, and ecology, all of which have been taken into account.

"This headquarters feels good, so let's set it as a small goal for the future of Shimmer Interactive Entertainment."

Zhong Ming said with emotion.

Under the guidance of Lin Xiaoguang's assistant, Zhong Ming came to Lin Xiaoguang's deputy general office.

"Teacher Zhong, you're here."

Lin Xiaoguang got up to greet him, and it could be seen that his mental state was not very good recently, probably because of the handheld release, which made him anxious.

"Mr. Lin's complexion is not very good, he hasn't slept well recently?" Zhong Ming quipped.

Lin Xiaoguang smiled bitterly: "Hey, what else can I do, the matter of the handheld." There is a gap with expectations, and the pressure from above is not small. Come, drink tea. ”

The assistant handed Zhong Ming tea.

"How's the game doing over there, Mr. Zhong? Brought the demo today? Lin Xiaoguang was also in a hurry, so after greeting him for a few words, he went straight to the point.

Zhong Ming nodded: "Bring it here, put it on the machine and try it." ”

Zhong Ming reached out and handed over a small portable hard drive.

The portable hard disk in this world is about the same size as the USB flash drive in the previous life, but the capacity is much larger.

The assistant hurriedly reached out and took it, and returned a moment later with a handheld for testing.

"It's loaded."

The assistant wanted to hand it over to Zhong Ming first, but Zhong Ming signaled to hand it over to Lin Xiaoguang directly.

Lin Xiaoguang took over the handheld, and the demo of "Zodiac Guardian" has been installed on it, and it can be run directly.

"Okay, I'll play first. Are there any precautions, Mr. Zhong? Lin Xiaoguang asked.

Most demos often have many problems, such as some bugs, inadequate optimization, or lack of beginner guides. Lin Xiaoguang asked in advance, which is also a habit.

Zhong Ming shook his head: "There are no precautions, the demo is about the first 10% of the content of the game, including the beginner's guide part, but some cutscenes and the like have not been done yet." I still don't say too much, Mr. Lin, you can just experience it yourself. ”

Lin Xiaoguang went straight into the game.

Because it's a demo version, we haven't made an opening CG yet, but instead of a simple text narrative. Lin Xiaoguang knew that these were all details, so he didn't care about it and went directly into the game.

The main character, Xingqi, appeared inside a Chinese-style temple, and looked around, a total of twelve statues of gods surrounded the temple, with different shapes.

Although there are great changes from the original animal prototype, Lin Xiaoguang can still recognize them at a glance, these are the traditional Chinese zodiac signs, but after some artistic processing.

The shapes and costumes of the characters, including the architectural style of the entire temple and the artistic style of the statues, are all in a Chinese style.

But it's not the more common costume style, but a more ancient style.

For example, the costumes on the protagonist Xingqi look like some simple fabrics from ancient times, and then with some animal bones, animal teeth and oil paint as decorations, it looks like it has a certain Chinese style, and it is obviously different from the vast majority of Chinese style games on the market.

On the screen, a simple system prompt is displayed: "Defeat the Zodiac Guardian wandering this land, and the corresponding Guardian Stone will be shattered." Defeat all the Zodiac Guardians to bring the dead back to life. ”

Looking at the girl lying on the altar in front of you, the goal of the game is very clear, which is to defeat all the gods and resurrect this girl.

Originally, these plots would be shown with a relatively long real-time calculation animation, but because it was a demo, the content of this part was not particularly important, so it was simply summarized in one sentence.

However, the plot of this game is indeed relatively simple, and it is not difficult to summarize it in one sentence.

Lin Xiaoguang pushed the joystick on the handheld, and the character ran forward.

Push the right stick and the viewing angle changes.

"It feels good."

Lin Xiaoguang was a little surprised, judging from the simple actions at the beginning, as an action-adventure game, it feels very good.

This is not easy, because Lin Xiaoguang knows that Zhong Ming and Shimmer Studio have only developed some 2D games before, and have never had experience in developing 3D games, and it is not easy for the first 3D game to be able to do so smoothly and naturally in action.

Because the threshold of 3D games is relatively high, character modeling and action are all big pits. Especially for action, in the absence of a motion capture system, the character's movements rely on system algorithms and action art hand-tuning, and many details are incomprehensible, which is likely to make players feel that the character's movements are stiff.

But "Zodiac Guardian" does not have this problem, the characters move naturally, and there are even some small actions in life, which look very real.

Walking out of the temple, the system has more operational cues, including running, jumping, archery, horseback riding, and so on.

These actions are basically done in accordance with the conventional action game button mode, so there is no difficulty in getting started, as long as it is an old player, it is already familiar with this set of operations.

Soon, Lin Xiaoguang saw three very big surprises one after another.

The first one is not only the character's movements, but also the dynamic effects of the physics engine in the whole world, and even the movements of the horses and the feeling of the characters when they draw their bows. When the character pulls the bow and shoots the arrow, the handle of the handheld will also feel a vibration, and some other dynamic performances, such as the fluttering of the character's clothes when the breeze blows, the grass lodging with the wind, etc., all kinds of physical effects are very perfect.

Although these contents can be achieved through the editor, they also need to be adjusted slowly, and some makers who save trouble directly use ready-made effects, which must be very different from the effects of this adjustment.

The second surprise is the amazing view!

Ride a horse on the grassland and enjoy an unobstructed view of the surrounding scenery.

Behind is the tall temple, and at the far end of the grassland, the mountains stretching on the horizon can be faintly seen, and the sky is covered with clouds, and the sunlight shines through the gaps in the clouds, shining on the earth, and the light and shadow effect is excellent.

This feeling of endless emptiness, coupled with the excellent light and shadow effects, made Lin Xiaoguang, who had just walked out of the temple, feel a sense of physical and mental pleasure.

Comfortable, free and open!

And this feeling is something that the other three games, including Dark Dawn, have never had.

Lin Xiaoguang was also a little puzzled, it stands to reason that the function of the handheld machine is a little difficult to support this level of light and shadow effect. For example, "Dark Dawn" has to divide the whole world into small areas, and in the small area, you can mobilize your functions to reach this level, but when you cross a small area, you have to read the strip.

But from the current point of view, such an empty world, it seems that there is no obvious place to read, is it a seamless map?

The third surprise is the guidance and guidance of the game, which is very natural.

Running, rolling, horseback riding, and archery are all conventional designs. But when looking for the boss, the game is set up to let the protagonist first arrive at the activity area of a certain boss, raise his sword in the sun, and then look at the direction of the sun's refraction, which is where the boss to be challenged.

Instead of simply and crudely marking the location or activity area of the boss on the map, it is easier to deepen the player's sense of substitution by using this guidance method combined with the game content.

Here, Zhong Ming has made some minor changes.

In the original work, the order of the challenges of the first few bosses is fixed, basically adhering to a sequence from easy to difficult.

But because the 12 zodiac signs to be challenged in "Zodiac Guardian" have been fixed, and the boss also needs to be designed according to the characteristics of the zodiac animals, then how to sort it has become a problem.

If you follow the rat, cow, tiger...... If you challenge in this order, then it is obviously a bit inappropriate to use the pig as the last boss to guard the level. Of course, it's not to discriminate against pigs, but the main thing is that the image of pigs is not the most difficult boss in the design of the game.

The most difficult boss is the dragon, which is divided into two stages of boss fighting, the first stage is in the sea, the second stage will fly into the sky, and it will be more difficult to climb to the weak point than the other animals.

That is, the difficulty of the challenge of the Guardians of the Zodiac is determined not by their ranking in the Zodiac, but by their physical characteristics. Because the appearance determines the difficulty of the player's climbing, and also determines the gameplay design of the boss battle, the difficulty has naturally been determined.

Therefore, this time, Zhong Ming simply did not give players a specific order of challenges, but let players explore freely, and they could fight the most difficult dragon as soon as they came up, or they could save it for the end.

Zhong Ming only gives players a general area of Guardian activity, and when he raises his sword outside the Guardian activity area, he points to the nearest Guardian; Raising your sword in the Guardian's area will guide you to the location of the Guardian in that area.

Of course, in order to prevent many players from being persuaded to challenge high-level bosses like dragons as soon as they come up, Zhong Ming also made some corresponding modifications, that is, to work map planning, as much as possible to make those easy-to-challenge bosses closer to the temple, in the inner edge of the entire large map, and those bosses with higher difficulty are in the corners of the entire large map, such as the dragon is in a very remote seaside, and it is difficult to find.

In this way, the problem of the order of the challenges is solved, and it also gives the player the illusion that "this game has a lot of freedom".

After riding a horse and running for a while, Lin Xiaoguang successfully reached the area where the first Zodiac Guardian was located, the Ox.

Lin Xiaoguang's first reaction was stunned: "This game ...... No mob fights? ”

Zhong Ming nodded: "Yes, no little monster." ”

"Hmmm......"

Lin Xiaoguang didn't say anything, this was not what he expected.

Because there are very few games that don't do monster battles. Mob battles are a way to adjust the pace of the game, and many players like to experience the thrill of mowing the grass in mob battles, and then challenge the boss with high mental tension when the boss battle arrives. Moreover, the monster battle can also arrange the interaction of many map elements and mechanisms, and there is a lot of content to play.

If you abandon this piece, you will lose a big highlight for the game.

Of course, some of the embarrassing games of going into the boss room to hide from the mobs are another story.

However, Lin Xiaoguang experienced the feeling of not having a monster war, and it seems to be not bad?

Although mob battles can regulate the player's emotions, many mob battles in games are nothing more than forcibly prolonging the game time. If the boss battle is a meal, then the monster battle is a cold dish. Strictly speaking, it is not impossible to eat without cold dishes, and if you eat too many cold dishes, you will vomit, which will affect the mood of eating a meal.

There's no monster fight.,Just start the boss.,It's not bad to feel good.,Go straight to the point.。

I just don't know how to guarantee the duration of this game without the monster war.

Lin Xiaoguang controlled the star diaphragm to jump off the horse and looked at the boss he wanted to challenge from a distance.

In the morning mist, a behemoth slowly walked out, and with every step, you could feel the earth and the game screen tremble slightly.

"Boom!" "Boom!" ……

A heavy muffled sound made Lin Xiaoguang feel a little weak in his heart.

After all, his only weapons were the longbow he carried on his back and the sword in his hand, and as for the horse...... Obviously can't help.

When he saw the true face of the guardian, Lin Xiaoguang was shocked.

"Such a big ?!!"

The giant bull walked out of the shadow of the morning mist, like a walking hill, completely unaware of the presence of the protagonist's diaphragm, and walked slowly past.

In terms of size, the height of the star diaphragm is only as high as the feet of this behemoth.

Yes, just the thickness of the soles of the feet is more than a meter high, not to mention the knees, thighs, and bodies on top.

If he was standing at the feet of the giant bull, then even if Lin Xiaoguang pulled the angle lens to the highest, he would not be able to see the highest place, and could only barely see one of the big thick legs of the giant bull.

"How do you fight this??" Lin Xiaoguang asked subconsciously.

Zhong Ming smiled but did not speak.

Prompts were quickly given on the screen.

"Stand in the sunlight and use your sword to refract the sunlight to find out where the seal on the Zodiac Guardian is where their weakness lies."

"Find a way to reach the location of the seal of these behemoths, and press and hold to perform a charged attack."

"The Colossus may shake its body while climbing, so please try to hold on to ......"

A few tips in a row.

Because this is the first time that players are fighting the Zodiac Guardian head-on, the guidance should be slightly more detailed, otherwise it will be difficult for players to fully understand the gameplay of this game.

"I ...... Want to climb on top of it? ”

Lin Xiaoguang felt a headache, and it was very difficult!

Climbing this big guy is even harder than climbing a mountain, because the mountain doesn't move, but it does.

Lin Xiaoguang first used his sword to illuminate the weakness of the giant bull, one suspected to be above the hind legs, and the other suspected to be on the top of the head.

After that, it's time to start the hard climb.

Lin Xiaoguang ran after the giant bull stupidly for a while, and found that the distance was a little far away and he couldn't catch up. He rode after him again, and at last he came to the feet of the bull, jumped hard, and grabbed the hind legs of the bull.

In the process of climbing, Lin Xiaoguang found that climbing the boss also has certain skills.

Not all places on the boss can be climbed, there are some stone armor positions that are the best to climb, followed by some places with long hair, which are also easier to climb. But there are also some relatively smooth skin, which cannot be climbed at all, and if you can't get started, you will fall down immediately.

In other words, in the process of climbing, you have to constantly think about the next route, and you can't just climb up without a brain.

Moreover, whether it is climbing or grasping, it requires physical strength, and physical strength is limited, and only in the standing state will the physical strength be restored.

That is to say, in many cases, the protagonist has to find a suitable foothold on the boss, let go of his hand and risk being thrown off to recover his physical strength, otherwise he will still fall down if he runs out of physical strength all the time.

.。 m.